(a) whether our country is home to the largest collection of manuscripts in the world;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the present policy for the conservation/ safety and digitalisation of manuscript heritage of the country;
(c) the number of manuscripts documented, digitalized and conserved till date; and
(d) the details of the funds allocated in this regard during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise?
MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR CULTURE AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR ENVIORNMENT, FOREST & CLIMATE CHANGE
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)
(a) Madam, it is possible that our country may be the home to the largest collection of manuscripts in the world, however no comparative global study on manuscripts by this Ministry is available.
(b) Ministry of Culture launched National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) in 2003 for documentation, conservation/preservation and digitization of manuscripts. Till date it has documented about 43.16 lakh Manuscripts in different scripts and languages.
For conservation and preservation of manuscripts, the cases are dealt on the basis of availability and accessibility. For conservation of manuscripts, NMM follows the guidelines prepared by National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Lucknow.
(c) Till date 43.16 lakh manuscripts have been documented. Preventive conservation of 39099246 folios and curative conservation of 3655777 folios has been done till date. Digitization of 2.83 lakh manuscript consisting of 2.93 crore pages has been done.
(d) The details of funds allocated in this regard during each of the last three years and current year, State/UT-wise details are given in Annexure.
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ANNEXURE
Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3132 dated 31.12.2018
The details of the amount of funds allocated and utilized during
each of the last three years and the current year 2018-19
(Rupees in Lakhs)
State Fund allotted
& utilized in 2015-16 Fund allotted
& utilized in 2016-17 Fund allotted
& utilized in 2017-18 Fund allotted
in 2018-19
Andhra Pradesh 9.50 37.35 29.8 10
Assam 4.50 7 4.9 7.5
Bihar 27.00 30.5 33.03 11.79
Delhi 9.5 2.5
Gujarat 2.5 2.5
Haryana 7.00 14 6.85 3.4
Himachal Pradesh 14.00 19 25.98 7.5
Jammu & Kashmir 16.00 18 9.5 4.13
Karnataka 27.30 28 10 17.3
Kerala 21.00 23 10.5 16.41
Madhya Pradesh 7.00 7 4.5 4.3
Maharashtra 13.15 7 10.5 12
Manipur 7.50 7.5 12 5
Mizoram 3.50 0.49 8 7
Odisha 39.64 41.9 37.9 15
Punjab 5.00
Rajasthan 14.50 21.5 14.5 10
Sikkim 2.64 5 5
Tamilnadu 14.00 12 13.5 8.8
Tripura 2.50 10
Uttarpradesh 43.50 49.25 27.91 19.54
Uttarakhand 23.50 16.06
West Bengal 27.64 14.37 10
297.73 389.19 283.74 179.67
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